Leclerc: Ferrari’s Pace is Good, No Giving Up on the Title Yet

Despite setbacks, Charles Leclerc remains optimistic that Ferrari can overcome challenges and mount a serious championship challenge this season.

Charles Leclerc arrives at the Japanese Grand Prix determined to finally get Ferrari’s season back on track.

So far, the Scuderia has only one notable result: a Sprint win in China. Beyond that, the team’s performance has been marked by a double disqualification at the same Grand Prix—a blow they could ill afford.

Is he confident that the team has put that behind them, and that it won’t happen again in Suzuka?

“I’m confident, because every mistake is a lesson, especially when the cost is so high. Everyone is pushing the limits, trying to get as close as possible. But having both cars disqualified was very tough. We didn’t need that.”

“The first part of the season was really difficult. The first two races were challenging, and our pace wasn’t where we expected it to be. Losing even more points had a big impact on the team. But I’m convinced we’ve learned from it. Every time something like that happens, we analyze it, understand what went wrong, and tweak our process slightly. There were many factors at play, and the margin we took wasn’t enough.”

Is it really tough to get the most out of the SF-25?

“It’s still difficult. It’s always a challenge to extract the maximum from it. I don’t think it’s any harder this season; it’s just that our performance compared to McLaren isn’t good enough at the moment. It’s not about unlocking performance—it’s simply that we don’t have enough right now. But little by little, I’m sure we can close that gap, hopefully starting this weekend.”

It seems like there was significant progress between Melbourne and China…

“We saw big improvements on Saturday, especially in the Sprint race with Lewis. By Sunday, I think things had returned to normal. I expect we’ll be about on the same level as we were in China and Melbourne this Sunday.”

Ferrari Struggles With Qualifying Pace

From the outside, Ferrari’s pace is tough to understand. In Melbourne, the car seemed on top until Q2, then dropped off. In China, the Sprint looked good, then the pace fell off. Is there an explanation? A narrow setup window? Sensitivity to ride height? Tires? Fuel load?

“I won’t go into specifics. But I think we’re starting to understand the car and identify our weaknesses. In Australia, everything was understood. In China, Lewis did a great job on Friday; maybe some drivers didn’t push to the limit in qualifying like he did, and he managed to outperform the car a bit.”

“Tire degradation is also an important factor. When you start at the front, everything comes a bit easier. But I think Lewis made the difference on Friday and Saturday. In the second qualifying session, everyone was more on pace, and we got a better sense of the car’s real performance.”

“Like last year, we have a good car in terms of race pace, but we haven’t really been able to show that so far. When we start further down the grid, degradation is higher, and we can’t truly display our real pace. That’s what happened on Sunday in China.”

“So I think our pace is as good as what we saw on Saturday with Lewis. But we won’t be able to fully exploit it unless we have better qualifying pace. If I take a step back, that’s where we need to improve: qualifying. That was the issue last year, and it seems even more important this year.”

Given the team’s performance last year, the hope was to fight for both championships this year. Is he worried that goal is no longer realistic?

Ferrari Eyes Title Fight Despite Setbacks

“Not yet. Looking at last year and the first few races, the performance situation was much worse than it is now. We expected Red Bull to dominate the entire season, but by taking the available points early on with our performance, we ended up fighting for the championship, which was well beyond our expectations.”

“That feeling isn’t really present within the team right now. But we do feel like we didn’t maximize our chances in the first two races, and that’s frustrating. But that doesn’t mean we can’t bounce back. The season is still very long. Step by step, we can still have an exceptional year.”

It’s worth noting that Ferrari’s new floor won’t be used until the Bahrain Grand Prix next weekend, not in Japan.

Ferrari’s new technical director, Loïc Serra, worked quickly on a specific solution for Japan, but it was delayed until Bahrain.

In Australia and China, the Maranello team found that their 2025 car was “extremely sensitive to ride height variations, often leading to significant loss of downforce.”

Ferrari Delays Floor Upgrade to Bahrain

Serra went straight back to Maranello after Melbourne “to analyze possible short-term solutions. And new findings in China pushed the floor introduction to Sakhir.”

However, Serra clarifies that “about twenty adjustments were tested in simulation to find the optimal base for the car that will hit the track in Japan.”

The floor for Bahrain “won’t be a huge project, but it will give us a preview of what is planned for the Miami race weekend in early May.”

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Leclerc Confident Ferrari Can Still Fight for the Title Leclerc Confident Ferrari Can Still Fight for the Title